"We played well the whole 90 (minutes)," said

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- After watching Esmil Rogers stumble, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons pulled out a baseball maxim. "Some of our top guys are putting together some good at-bats and some things like that," he said. "The key is pitching though. Thats going to take us as far as were going to go this year. Were trying to iron some things out, find out whos going to do what. We want strike-throwers." Rogers, in the mix for the Jays fifth starter, struck out six in his three innings Thursday in a 7-5 exhibition loss to the Houston Astros. But he also walked two and gave up four runs on five hits including two homers. "First inning he was good. Then he was shaky after that," was Gibbons pithy assessment of Rogers performance. "The key to him is throwing enough strikes. He could be a heck of a pitcher when he gets the ball into the strike zone. Weve seen it before, thats where he runs into trouble." With spring training entering its final weeks, the Jays are still looking wondering about their starting rotation. Gibbons pronouncement on pitching, while accurate, is hardly soothing to Toronto fans. Barring injuries, R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and Brandon Morrow are expected to emerge as the first three starters. Rogers is competing against Drew Hutchison, J.A. Happ, Ricky Romero, Todd Redmond, Kyle Drabek, Marcus Stroman, Sean Nolin and Dustin McGowan for the fourth and fifth spots. Hutchison has drawn praise from general manager Alex Anthopoulos -- "We think Drews got a chance to be outstanding" -- while Gibbons called Romero "the big talk of camp right now." But questions remain. Rogers likely did not do himself any favours Thursday after a 1-2-3 first inning that featured a groundout and two strikeouts. Things went downhill from there. "My pitches were a little bit high," he said. "I lost my control." Teenage shortstop Carlos Correa, a 19-year-old who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft, and Jon Singleton hit back-to-back homers for Houston in the third inning off Rogers. Correa then drove in two more runs with a blast to centre in the eighth off Neil Wagner. In between, he made a slick fielding play in the fourth to throw out Brett Lawrie. Rogers said the Singleton homer came off a change-up, a pitch he suggested he might put aside for the time being. Starter Dallas Keuchel pitched four scoreless innings as Houston (7-6) posted its fourth straight win in the spring. The last time the Astros won four in a row in the Grapefruit League was in March 2011. McGowan was the best of the Blue Jays pitchers with two scoreless innings despite not having pitched in 10 days after being sidelined by a stomach bug that saw him lose eight pounds. The only blemish on his outing Thursday was a walk. McGowan still thinks of himself as a starting pitcher but, with only four spring innings under his belt, he is behind others. "Theres what I want to be," he said. "If Im there, great. If Im in the bullpen, also great. Its a win-win situation, I think." Houston went ahead 2-0 in the second on a Cesar Izturis single after Rogers dug himself in a bases-loaded hole with two walks and a single. Lawrie did his bit for the Toronto defence, gunning down Jesus Guzman at the plate before the Izturis hit. The Blue Jays (6-8) scored three in the fifth off Collin McHugh to cut the lead to 4-3. Houston made it 5-3 in the sixth via a sacrifice fly. Houston threatened again when Toronto pitcher Jeremy Jeffress loaded the bases in the seventh with no outs. He struck out one before giving way to Wagner, who struck out another and then escaped the inning when Ryan Goins made an eye-popping fielding play off a ball that flew off the pitchers body. There was action in the bottom of the seventh as Anthony Gose somehow turned a shallow fly ball into a triple when sliding Houston outfielder Adron Chambers was unable to chase the ball down. Kevin Pillar then was drilled by Josh Zeid with the Jays outfielder taking a long look at the Astros pitcher as he left the batters box. Gose scored on a fielders choice when Pillar was cut down stealing second, cutting the lead to 5-4. Gose also scored on a sacrifice fly in the ninth to make it 7-5 after Correas second homer extended the Houston lead. Keuchel has yet to give up a run in nine innings this spring. He scattered six hits over his four innings Wednesday, striking out two with no walks. The game featured half-brothers Cesar and Maicer Izturis, both starting at second base and batting ninth (the older Cesar for Houston and Maicer for Toronto). Toronto outhit Houston 13-12. The contest, which lasted three hours 11 minutes, drew 4,510 to Florida Auto Exchange Stadium on a 15-degree day. 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Dylan Larkin Jersey .com) - Virginia is for loving Latrell Scott.CARSON, Calif. -- Robbie Keane scored three goals and the Los Angeles Galaxy rallied to beat Western Conference-leading Real Salt Lake 4-2 on Saturday night. Keane scored in the 56th, 67th and 86th minutes to help the Galaxy (11-9-4) pull four points behind Salt Lake and tighten an eight-team battle for five West playoff berths. The top seven teams are separated by eight points, with San Jose another three points back. Omar Gonzalez, who signed a designated player contract this week, also scored for Los Angeles. The Galaxy could had two more -- but those were stopped on the goal line, first by Chris Wingert on Landon Donovan two minutes after Keanes first goal and by Kenny Mansally on Todd Dunivant near the end. "We played well the whole 90 (minutes)," said Donovan, whose corner kick Gonzalez headed home in the 75th minute for a 3-1 lead. "We probably deserved a 4- or 5-0 game, but real happy wiith how we performed.ddddddddddddquot; Panamanian goalkeeper Jaime Penedo made his MLS debut for the Galaxy, making a fine save on Alvaro Saborios shot to the upper-right corner three minutes into the second half. Joao Plata gave Real Salt Lake (12-8-5) a lead in the 53rd minute, finishing from a wonderful touch by Ned Grabavoy. Keane scored from a long pass by Juninho to tie it, then volleyed Los Angeles ahead off a cross by Sean Franklin 11 minutes later. Keane got his 10th goal to complete his hat trick in the 86th, lifting the ball over rushing goalkeeper Nick Rimando. "What can I say," Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis said. "I think (Los Angeles is) extremely effective in what they do, and if theyre on their game, sometimes youre just gonna have to say theyre the better team, and I think thats what we have to say tonight." Robbie Findley scored in the 90th for Salt Lake. ' ' '